Trends in Computing

History of Ubiquitous Computing

• Mark Weiser, XEROX PARC, 1988
• Tools should be invisible, not the center of attention.

We work best when we don't focus on the tools. Who is the better musician, the beginner who has to focus on every fingering, or the master, who knows the instrument and can focus on the music?

THE PARC TAB

• Part of phase I of Ubicomp research
• Palm-size mobile computer
• Wireless - communicates through an IR interface with workstation applications
• Advantages:
  • Extremely portable - the size of a pager
  • Constant Connectivity
  • Location always known

XEROX PARCTAB

PARC TAB Applications

• 'Weather' button contacts Internet and downloads latest weather report.
• 'e-mail' button lets user scan, reply and save e-mail.
• 40+ applications developed for the TAB
• Portholes

The Active Badge

• Developed by Olivetti Research Labs, used by XEROX Parc
• Like an employee ID badge
• Primary purpose: Location tracking.
• Includes a tone generator, a button and two LEDS for simple two-way communication.
• Newer models include badge authentication.

Active Badge

Active Badge Applications

• Phone Call Routing

Phone call is routed to the handset nearest the user, unless he is in a room full of people, in which case he may be considered busy.

• The LED on the badge blinks when the call is for the user.
• User can set status to 'BUSY' by pressing button.

Badge can beep when a call comes in while user is 'BUSY' or beep twice when a visitor arrives. (Or beep unless the user is in the boss's office)

• Environmental control
  • heat, radio, coffee, lighting, etc.
  • Automatic logon to a workstation

Active Badge Applications (cont.)

• On-line Diary
  • Notes whether a potential meeting attendee is in the building.
  • If someone returns to the building before an expected time, the diary would be automatically updated.
  • If the user was going to a meeting, the badge could warn him if he was headed to the wrong place.
• Small badges available for tracking objects.

Active Badge, continued

• Currently Olivetti's Web site (www.cam-orl.co.uk) provides for queries of the location of someone wearing an Active Badge.

XEROX LiveBoard

• Videoconferencing tool.
• Remote parties share a large display, like a white board
• Remote parties displayed in a window
• Accessed with electronic pens or pads.
• Targeted bulletin board
• Commercially available through LiveWorks, a XEROX subsidiary.

Augmented Reality

• Computer-Assisted Maintenance
  • Laser Printer Experiment
• Computer-Augmented Surgery
• Rearranging and selecting 'virtual furniture' superimposed on a video of your room.
• Trying on 'virtual clothes' to see if they fit before you buy.

Digital Desk

• Designed to solve problems between paper and electronic documents.
  • People like paper - tactile, easier to read, cheap, universally-accepted, portable
  • Electronic documents - quick to edit, share, file, retrieve, spell check, etc.
• The Digital Desk enhances paper with computation, by
  • projecting electronic images onto the paper
  • responding to interactions with pens on paper
  • reading paper documents placed on the desk.

Research Challenges

• Cheap, low-power components
• Software
  • to handle mobility
  • to adapt windowing systems to moving applications
• Network
  • tiny-range wireless, long-range wireless and very high speed wired, all working together
• 'invisible' user interfaces

Social Issues

• Loss of Privacy
  • encryption
  • educating the public
  • contracts between the user and the system administrators
• Controlling Information Overload
  • by making the machine adapt to us, instead of the other way around.

Further Topics in the Book

• Devices connected to the Web (Coke machines, robot arms)
• Tele-embodiment (blimps)
• Smart Homes
• More examples

Conclusion

'Our computers should be like an invisible foundation that is quickly forgotton but always with us, and effortlessly used throughout our lives.' Mark Weiser